The Table Tennis 53 - ITTF

A gap of a few months followed before the next event 8 :
30 Sept. 1902 THE ROYAL AQUARIUM.–Several new items have
lately been introduced into the long and varied programme at the Royal
Aquarium, Westminster; ……………… On October 29 a table tennis
tournament will take place at the Royal Aquarium under the auspices
of the Table Tennis Association.
29 Oct. 1902
The next event advertised for the Royal Aquarium, in
the edition of 12 th December 1902 appears to be a bit
of a puzzle - was it really a tournament under another
name?
To-day. The All England Table Tennis Match. Ladies 3 to 5.
Gentlemen 7 to 10.
For the remaining events of this early period, Crystal
Palace apparently became the venue of choice. Firstly,
in February 1903, the UK Championships 9 :
24 Feb. 1903
On October 17 th 1903, there was an announcement for:
Table Tennis Tournament, Imperial Club v. Mason Club, at 6.0.
Perhaps, in the reverse of the situation above, this was
a tournament that was really a match?
But a few days later, the only ambiguity in the
announcements on 22 nd and 23 rd October is whether it
is for a tournament each day or one tournament over
the two days:
22 Oct. 1903
The wording the following day was:
TO-DAY. Table Tennis Tournament, at 6.0.
The final event, during March 1904, was the next
staging of the UK Championships 10 :
5 March 1904
During this hectic period of table tennis / ping-pong
activity, there were probably many other similar events,
which did not make the ‘Personal’ section of The Times.
But it did seem that there were three favoured venues,
at least for London events. Crystal Palace probably
needs no explanation, as it is still a noted sports venue,
but if, like me, you are puzzled about Queen’s Hall and
the Royal Aquarium, this could be because they are no
longer in existence!
The latter was on the site of the current Central Hall,
opposite Westminster Abbey.
It opened as a general
entertainments venue in
1876 (though never as an
aquarium!), but its popularity
was short-lived and it was
demolished in 1902-3. This
must have made The All
England Table Tennis Match one of the very last
events to be staged there.
Queen’s Hall was in
Langham Place, next
to All Souls Church. It
opened in 1893 and
was destroyed during
the Blitz in 1941.
There was then a lengthy gap with regard to any
mention of tournaments until the period around the
time of the first World Championships in 1926 (actually
organised as European Championships). Part 2 will
present a summary of the early tournaments, and a
piece on the 1st World Championships.
References:
www.timesonline.co.uk/archive - editions of:
1 28 November 1901
2 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 December 1901
3 24, 27, 28 and 31 December 1901
4 31 December 1901; 1, 3, 6 and 8 January 1902
5 1, 16, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 Jan.; 3, 4 Feb. 1902
6 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 Jan.; 3, 4 Feb. 1902
7 3, 4 and 7 March 1902
8 30 September; 27, 29, 31 October 1902
9 23, 24 February 1903
10 2, 5 March 1904
‘The Face of London’ by Harold P Clunn (1956) - Royal Aquarium
9